Indian Army personnel keep up vigil along the Indo-Myanmar international border.
| Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR
The 1643-km-long border with Myanmar will be entirely ringed with an “anti-cut, anti-climb” fence in the next ten years, according to government officials and a parliamentary panel report.
The project to fence the Myanmar border was announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in February 2024 and the work has gathered pace in the past three or four months, officials said.
From April 1-December 31, 2024, an amount of ₹114.09 crore has been spent on constructing the fence and company operating bases for the Assam Rifles, the central armed police force (CAPF) that is responsible for guarding the Myanmar border.
“The technology is entirely indigenous and developed by our own engineers. It has anti-cut and anti-climb features which will deter illegal infiltration and secure the border,” said a senior official of the Assam Rifles.
A March 10 parliamentary panel report said that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had in March 2024, approved a proposal worth ₹31,000 crore to fence the Indo-Myanmar border and to construct roads to provide better connectivity to company operating bases (COBs) of the Assam Rifles.
“For creating infrastructure along the IMB (India-Myanmar Border), the CCS granted in-principle approval for construction of fence and 64 border roads. Construction of fence and road of 1,610.2 km along IMB in 10 years and its maintenance for five years, at cost of ₹20,264.4 crore; construction of 58 roads (1,467.5 km) to connect the COBs of Assam Rifles and six approach roads (78.7 km) to IMB in 10 years and its maintenance for five years, at cost of ₹10,767.5 crore (total cost ₹31,031.9 crore),” the report said.
The model is likely to be replicated along the international border with Pakistan and Bangladesh, the official said.
The proposal has faced stiff opposition from Naga and Kuki-Zo bodies, who have objected to the fencing saying it will disrupt ethnic and familial ties for people living on both sides of the border.
India and Myanmar share an unfenced border and have a unique arrangement called the Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allows them to visit families residing in the limits of 10 kms on both sides of the border without visas or a passport. Former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had attributed the ongoing ethnic violence, which has claimed more than 250 lives since May 2023, to the unregulated movement of people from across the border.
Till last year, only 10 km of the border near Moreh in Manipur had been fenced.
On March 1, Mr. Shah while reviewing the security situation in Manipur had asked the Assam Rifles to construct a 10-km fence on either side of each border gate or crossing points under the revised FMR. As many as 22 out of 43 crossing points along the Myanmar border under the revised FMR have started functioning. Eleven of such gates are in Manipur.
“Surveillance cameras will also be placed along the fence to monitor the area better. The border gates and the fencing will ensure that people who cross the border are accounted for. So far around 9,000 people have used the border gates to enter Manipur. There have been very few cases of overstaying,” said another government official.
For entry into India from Myanmar, individuals report at the designated border crossing points and fill a form. The Assam Rifles personnel record the biometrics and issue a border pass with the photograph of the applicant and a QR code, which is valid for seven days. The pass will have to be deposited on return from the same crossing point. All details are uploaded on a centralised portal.
The FMR came into existence in 1968 when the territorial limit of free movement of people was 40 km on both sides of the border. The limit was reduced to 16 km in 2004 and, in 2016, additional regulations were enforced.
After announcing in February 2024 that FMR had been entirely suspended, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in December 20204 finalised fresh protocol to regulate the movement of people living within 10 km of the largely unfenced international border.
The India-Myanmar border runs along the States of of Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km).
Published – March 15, 2025 10:30 pm IST